The shortest journey will show you that the sensible approach taken to achieving the Clio’s showroom appeal persists on the road.
You first notice the entirely artificial feel of the steering, then the quietness of the ride and then the refinement of the engine.
Squeeze the throttle hard in a low gear and, because this Clio has the same 99bhp and 94lb ft of torque as its predecessor but an extra 130kg of weight, the result is rather less than startling. It will scrabble to 60mph in 11.5sec and on to 109mph, but these are very average figures for the class.
The suspicion created from its straight-line performance that the Clio has had a substantial sense of humour failure between generations is borne out in the corners. You can’t fault its grip or poise, but nor can you miss its lack of enthusiasm for being driven fast.
The steering has no kickback but neither is there much feel, the throttle has almost no influence over the steering and the whole experience suggests the Clio has matured just a little too much. It’s just not as much fun to drive as French superminis should be.
The pay-off is impressive ride quality in all conditions, but especially at speed on the motorway. Around town certain things contrive to annoy you – a slight lumpiness over pot-holes and the infuriating self-centring of the overly assisted helm – but as speeds rise so these issues fade to leave a car with impressively long legs for its class.
The sound of the fast-spinning engine is a constant companion in the cabin until you turn on the terrific stereo, but road and wind roar have been kept to an impressive minimum.
Surprisingly, given the extra weight and short gearing, Renault has had to use to give the Clio even adequate performance, fuel economy is still fair, averaging 35.4mpg in our hands. This gives it a practical range of 389 miles on the 50-litre tank.